


Old Long Since

by aprilvolition



Category: The Pretender
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Holidays, New Years, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-01
Updated: 2012-01-01
Packaged: 2017-10-28 16:41:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/309888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aprilvolition/pseuds/aprilvolition
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jarod leads Parker to Times Square on New Years Eve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Old Long Since

Parker knew Jarod had orchestrated all of this, and by the start of the new year she wouldn't be any closer to capturing him.

The smirk he throws her way when she sees him exiting the cab only confirms this fact.

In the light of Times Square, his dark eyes have a gleam of mischief and his feet are as quick as his mind. She and her team of sweepers lose him in mere moments in the sea of drunken idiots ringing in the new year. She heaves a sigh of annoyance.

"Pick a direction and go!" The sweepers scatter none too gracefully at her orders. Two nearly collide as they head in the same direction before realizing their error and finally following her command.

She doesn't bother keeping up the pretense of steely determination once they're gone and instead makes her way slowly through the mass of moving bodies. Party horns and voices fill the cold night air as she pushes her way towards whatever refuge she can find. The pavement's littered with trash, mostly party favors and confetti, even though the ball has yet to drop. She watches her step, afraid she'll find something much more harmful in her path.

It's nearly midnight and she just wants some place to wait out the new year, then call her team back in and head home. She pulls her leather jacket tighter before fishing in her pockets for gloves but comes up empty. Damn. At least she hadn't forgotten her white wool cap. She's tugging it down a little further on her head when she sees an empty space against a building that looks about as comfortable as she's going to get until she's out of here.

She's just settled her back against the wall, the coldness if of it seeping in through her layers of clothing, when her cell rings.

"What?" she snaps into the phone. She barely hears him over the roar of the festivities.

"Isn't this amazing?" He's practically yelling in his excitement, and to be heard. She knows he's close, she can feel him. Her eyes scan the crowd as she responds.

"No, Jarod, this is madness."

"Tsk, tsk, Parker. Where's your sense of adventure?"

She doesn't see any familiar faces, just an endless array of strangers talking, huddling for warmth, and doing other more boisterous activities in celebration of the coming new year.

"My whole life's a fucking adventure, Jarod, and every single one of them somehow involves you." She can hear him laughing on the other end, and despite her sincere desire to get the hell out of here, she stopped lying to herself when it comes to him. She looks forward to his phone calls, and the sound of his voice is warmer than any house she could be in right now. She doesn't fight the slight upturning of her mouth.

"Ever think maybe it's supposed to be that way?" He seems to say it so quietly, but she thinks it has more to do with the words than the actual volume of his voice. The noise around her fades until he's the only thing she can hear.

"Do you trust me, Parker?"

"No." Her response is automatic, and not entirely true. Which of course he knows.

"I think you do. And I think you're going to prove it tonight." Habit has her wanting to deny his words, but she stays silent instead. She may be ready to stop lying to herself, but that doesn't mean she's ready to admit the truth out loud. Especially to him.

It's not lost on her that he's chose the beginning of a new year to call her on it. The changes they've been going through since Carthis. He runs, she chases, but it's all just an elaborate play, and behind the scenes they're not really enemies. Far from it, actually.

"Parker?" There's a note of uncertainty in his voice, and she can't help the thrill from knowing he's not entirely sure of where this night will lead. He may have planned everything that brought them here, but he wasn't sure of _this_ moment.

But, surprisingly, she is.

"I'm here." She hears him let out the breath he'd been holding and the certainty return to his voice when he speaks.

"Close your eyes, Parker." She takes one last look at the strangers around her, but doesn't see his face. The noise of the crowd escalates as the countdown begins, and a sense of urgency has her complying with his request. Her hearing takes over for her loss of sight once her eyelids slip closed. The voices around her are completely in sync as the last ten seconds of the year tick away.

 _10!_

She doesn't think she would be able to hear him now over the sound of thousands of people screaming in unison.

 _9!_

Lights dance beneath her eyelids and she can picture in her mind the big ball of lights as it descends.

 _8!_

Most of the people around her have moved away from the wall to get a better view, leaving her tiny pocket of space that much bigger.

 _7!_

So when she senses another body in front of her, she has no doubt it's his.

 _6!_

The urge to open her eyes is overwhelming when a cold hand grasps hers, pulling it, along with her cellphone, away from her ear.

 _5!_

His warm breath replaces the air where her phone had just been, tickling her ear as he speaks.

 _4!_

"Happy New Year, Parker."

 _3!_

He pulls back slightly, her head already turning. His arm snakes around her waist and she grasps blindly for the back of his head.

 _2!_

When their lips meet it's their first kiss all over again, innocent and sweet. But it only lasts a second before years of history, emotions, and _everything_ collide, exploding into a hungry and desperate melding of mouths.

 _1!_

 _Happy New Year, Jarod._

She doesn't stop kissing him to say it aloud.


End file.
